100 MILE HOUSE: Green Walls Research Briefing

Green walls are an excellent idea that shrewd urban planners, landscape designers, and interior designers are beginning to adopt. As the benefits are great and numerous, I suspect that the adoption of green wall systems will increase substantially within the next 10 years.

Green walls serve to abate air pollution, noise levels, net carbon emissions, and urban heat island effects. Green walls might also serve as a productive source of job creation and food / biomass production.

Not only do green walls absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen, they also remove particulate matter from the urban air supply.

According to a 2001 study combining trees with cool roofs could lower the ambient temperature in Los Angeles by 3°C and cool the air around buildings. Grass roofs were deemed to be the most effective pollution abatement plant species and structural design. Green walls also had a significant effect[1].

Noise pollution can increase stress levels of city residents a great deal, whether it be construction noise, car horns, and irate pedestrians. While green walls will not completely muffle these disturbances, they can have a significant reduction effect on the decibel level. According to a El Sevier study in the Journal Applied Acoustics, green walls can reduce urban noise pollution between 0 and 10 decibels depending on the plant species, substrate, and water saturation levels[2].

Being around plants is great for human health. According to a 2008 Kansas State University Study, positive healing and pain management outcomes of post-appendectomy surgery patients were significantly increased when patients had flowering plants in their hospital room[3].

Living walls could be used to promote native plants and biodiversity as well.

Also, indoor living walls and plants may increase worker productivity[4]

Many are still skeptical of the net benefits of green walls, but their growth in popularity is undeniable. There are an increasing number of firms principally dedicated to vertical gardens. Here are ten living wall company websites found in a quick google search:

http://www.habitathorticulture.com/living-tables/

http://www.woollypocket.com/living-walls

http://www.ambius.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-living-green-walls/

http://www.eltlivingwalls.com/

http://www.greenovergrey.com/about-us/overview.php

http://www.nedlawlivingwalls.com/

http://agreenroof.com/about/

http://www.brightgreenusa.com/

https://www.ansgroupglobal.com/living-walls/

http://www.filtrexx.com/livingwalls/

The financial giant Prudential recently contracted the construction of a 1760 square foot green wall on the side of their Newark, NJ office building[5].

British transit stations have green walls[6].

Vertical gardens even occupy prestigious international locations like the Caixa Forum in Madrid, Spain[7]